Many have said that unconditional offers act as a disincentive for students to achieve as high a grade as they can on their level three programme, as they are already assured a university place. This poorly prepares young people for both academia and employment particularly – as many graduate schemes take level three grades into account when screening applicants.

We might argue that this artificial intelligence (AI) process is exercising a form of creativity. It is creating ‘new’ and ‘novel’ things. (Check the Wikipedia page for ‘Creativity’ to see how diverse the definitions have become.)

The artist known as…

On the 25 October 2018, at Christie’s auction house (New York) the ‘Portrait of Edmund Bellamy’ was sold for $432,000; a price more than 40 times higher than it had been expected to reach.

Let’s have a quick review of the ’10 Things that Require Zero Talent’…

1. Being on time is important, whether you are a student or a professional.

If you aren’t ‘there’ you don’t get to show how talented you might be. And, showing up late will take the shine off anything you might do after. What does it take to be on time? A clock/watch and the ability to plan your journey. It certainly isn’t rocket science, so there’s no excuse.

And there’s certainly no shortage of information to help you make these choices - whether for you it is an apprenticeship, progressing to college or university, or straight into a job-perhaps with training. Before you make your decision, remember that your learning and career journey is unique to you, so you need to make the choice that suits you best,

And that’s the crux of the matter: it’s always about selling a product and in the entertainment business, this product is YOU. If people have to pause and squint their eyes to understand what your product is, you’re much less likely to be offered an audition, let alone a job.

Having a distinct casting type will help you get through the door, but for many of us, that type isn’t always obvious. Here are some ideas to help you define your product more clearly.

It talks about the use of kitemarks to demonstrate which qualifications in this space meet employer-led standards - in the long term only ‘kitemarked’ qualifications will be able to charge up to the proposed £7,500 fee cap. These changes could be positive for the HNs, which are already designed and built on strong employer and professional body engagement.

If speaking to an audience is like eating your veggies when you were 6 (you don’t like it but you’ll do it if you’re made to) you can probably simply rationalise it. ‘It’s only talking which I know I can do. With a bit of preparation I’ll know what I’m saying. It’ll be over in a few minutes and it won’t kill me’. But for many, it’s more like jumping off a bridge with just a piece of elastic between you and the ground. All the attention on you can cause real fear and anxiety, so you might need some more support to get over it.

It’s all about mental toughness

Mental toughness is considered one of the key attributes required in athletes as physical ability and talent alone are not enough to be successful in this field. This is a relatively new area of research to sport and, although the concept of mental toughness was first explored in 1957 (Raymond Cattel), it is only since 2000 that significant research has been undertaken.